Darkangel
by ShaggyDiz
Summary: [slight Ishida x Orihime oneshot] Give me time I will be clear. Given time you'll understand, what possesses me... to right what you have suffered...


Disclaimer: Bleach is owned by Kubo Tite. The lyrics used is from VNV Nation's "Darkangel", which is owned by the group. That is all.

Warning! This contains spoilers to episode 44 of the anime. Read at your own risk.

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Darkangel

A one-shot by shaggydiz

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He had no time to think. The battle was quickly going against him, and with each passing moment and each passing wound, Ishida Uryuu was losing control of the fragile bonds that held his wounds together. His opponent – the twelfth division captain known as Kurotsuchi Mayuri – was giving him no quarter with his constant attacks from his array of expandable appendages. The sly and fear inducing voice of the captain slowly dug into Ishida's body and mind as he constantly chattered on and on about how he would make the Quincy live long enough to endure his experiments that would be much, much worse than what he had offered Orihime.

_ Inoue…_

The name flashed briefly through Ishida's mind, as he had made sure that she got away safely only minutes before. At least it seemed like minutes to him.

_ How long have I been dodging and parrying and taking hits from this bastard?_ He asked himself this as he regained his balance and stood on his feet again, raising his bow arm one last time for a final, possible killing shot.

But that wasn't his intention. As briefly as he though of his travel companion, her name and innocent face had disappeared, and replaced by the true reason for continuing this fight:

His grandfather.

The photo ignited his rage, and while the rage still persisted, the power to fight slowly gave way to the increasing damage he took. As he thought of his grandfather, Ishida remember the one warning he received about the gauntlet that covered his right hand and forearm: "Never remove it, or you will lose your Quincy powers forever."

_ Grandfather… I'm sorry…_

In one split second, the gauntlet was destroyed, and immeasurable power flowed in and out of his body. His costume changed in an instant, reflecting in its own majestic way the change that Ishida just went through.

But none of it compared to the wing of energy that flayed on his right shoulder blade. As Ishida stood there, it danced around; reducing everything around it to mere atoms, and then it pulled those atoms onto itself, creating more energy.

The one winged angel that Ishida had become remained still, save for his bow arm as he raised it up again, taking aim at Mayuri.

And Mayuri slowly began to wonder how this minor nuisance, this Quincy had become to look almost as evil as he was. Even with the white light, he thought of one thing before barely dodging the first arrow:

_ Dark angel…_

The second arrow did not miss.

Ishida stood still, taking aim once again at Mayuri with his arm raised and a new silver arrow pointed at him again.

"On the pride of the Quincy's, with the scorn that I feel, I will kill you," he spoke aloud, ready to release the arrow as he listened to the hacking and coughing fits of the twelfth division captain.

But instead of fear or despair, Ishida only saw a twisted look of complete evil on Mayuri's face. He barely registered the whispered word, but the chill of the voice speaking the word still reached his mind.

"Ban… kai…"

And in a few moments, the soul slayer had disappeared, and reappeared as a giant caterpillar type monstrosity that was as wide as the walkway and appeared to be several dozen meters long, at least.

"Golden Ashisogi Jizou," Mayuri spoke, explaining the details of how the creature that just appeared was able to kill its enemies. He then sent it forward upon Ishida, saying that he didn't need him for his experiments anymore.

Ishida would think of that as a good thing, but he didn't contemplate it for more than a tenth of a second, as the skyscraper sized demon came barreling down upon him. In his mind, he kept repeating the same mantra over and over again.

_ I have no restraint…_

_ I have no fear…_

_ I have no restraint…_

_ I have no fear…_

Ishida exhaled… and released his arrow.

_

* * *

_

_ In my dream, do I… do I see you clear? Powerless I watched… this face that I assumed…_

Orihime woke up with a start, her eyes spring wide to action. She realized after a few moments of constant motion that she was still being carried by the drunken shinigami known as Aramaki. It appeared now that he wasn't drunk anymore.

"Ah! Glad to see you're awake now. I was afraid that I hit you too hard," he said happily to the girl. Aramaki slid to a stop and laid her up against a wall. He turned away from her and set a loose hand upon his sword.

"Ishida…"

"Hmm…?" He had barely caught the whisper of the name.

"Ishida… my friend… is he okay?" Orihime asked with worry in her heart.

Aramaki shrugged his shoulders. "I can't tell. The explosions from their battle stopped about twenty minutes ago. It's hard to know whether or not your friend survived the battle, especially against that demon of a shinigami."

"Oh," she muttered to herself, feeling a bit down. She looked away before turning back to where they had just come from. "I know he'll be fine," she stated. There was a hint of confidence in her voice.

"Are you sure?" Aramaki asked her, wondering if he had truly hit her as hard as he thought he did.

Orihime nodded. "Yeah… because it's Ishida. He can do anything."

"I… see." He was quite hesitant to answer, only because of who her friend had faced. If anyone can escape from him…

"Hey, where are we headed?" Orihime asked suddenly.

"Oh! Eleventh division headquarters is where we're going. And don't worry, I'll keep you safe."

"How?"

Aramaki stood tall and wore a huge smile. "You saved me, and I shall have to return the favor. And with that insurance, I'm sure no one will touch you there. And besides, our captain had been going on and on about some ryoka that he fought, and…"

Orihime somehow blocked him out as he led the way. The only thing left on her mind then was the safety of her friend and protector.

_ Ishida, be safe… I'll meet up with you again soon… I promise…_

* * *

_ Damn it… he got away…_

Ishida stood alone on the battlefield, watching Mayuri pull his last resort technique of escape, and promising the Quincy his death. Somehow, he didn't doubt this. His own last resort had failed him, and soon enough, he would be gone of his powers.

Total war against a stronger opponent has that effect on one's mental and physical properties.

He was lucky enough to have Nemu still there, with an antidote to the poison released by Mayuri's ban kai. It was weird to him how she thanked him for holding back and not killing her creator, considering what he had done to her.

But that didn't matter to Ishida now. His goal remained the same as always: go and rescue Rukia for Ichigo. He didn't have much time though.

He didn't know when his ironic "dark angel" would vanish forever.

_ It seems I came to leave…_

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Fin.

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AN: Just a little something small for everyone to enjoy. I wanted to use this song for a while and didn't have the feel for it until I saw this episode. After that, everything just fell into place.

As for the tardiness to which I write, I'm sorry. My inspiration fell apart once again after the last post I made (a year and a week and a half ago), though with me being back in school again, I feel that I can find the creative desire to write again. I actually have a few ideas for once, which is rare. So to my long term readers – which I'm sure will flog me to no end – my apologies. I hope to get back on a regular output again.

PS.: I've joined the ranks of Ann and GD of the "why the hell did it take so long for you to update anything" field. I'm proud of that.

PPS.: I have a separate live journal set up for my fiction: shaggydizfic. Just go to the site and type that in the search thing.


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